Detention
by Ms Musician
Summary: Nancy, Frank, Joe, and others are in high school once again, more determined than ever to leave their mark behind.
1. Chapter 1

"I cannot believe you got us a detention," Nancy said to her friend. It was Friday afternoon—and school had just gotten out. Well, for most kids. It was different for a few others.

Joe just looked at her. "I _told_ you, it wasn't my fault!" he exclaimed. "It was—an accident."

Frank nudged his brother. "Was it an _accident_ to drop all of your potatoes and gravy on the prettiest yet snobbiest girl in the entire River Heights High School?" he asked him.

"Um..." Joe began.

"Right," Nancy said. "Don't start it."

"Hey, Hardy!" Joe and Frank both turned around as Callie walked into the room.

"What are you doing here?" Joe asked her. "I didn't think you'd get a detention."

"Well, I did," she said. "A lot of kids that participated in that food fight did. Well, everyone whom was caught throwing food."

"Oh," Joe said.

"Do you know who started it? Because I swear, I'll kill them."

"Um..." Joe began.

"Joe," Nancy said, "I'd begin running right about now."

Callie glared at him. "_You_ started it?" she said. "_You_ started the food fight this afternoon?"

"Um... yes, I guess I did..." Joe began.

"Joe Hardy," she said, "I swear, sometimes you just—" she stood up. At the same time, Joe stood up.

"I'm sorry you got a detention. But really, it's not my fault you got a detention." As he spoke he was slowly backing up. Callie continued toward him.

"I wouldn't have been throwing food if other people hadn't been throwing it at me," she said. "Therefore, it _is_ at least partially your fault."

"Joe! Run!" Frank yelled.

Joe looked desperately around. Unfortunately, the teacher was an older man whom was in his seventies and halfway asleep. Then he saw it—his escape. Just as Callie was about to reach out to him, he dove out the window. As he did, the others ran to the window and looked out. Joe was lying on the concrete below.

"Joe! Are you all right?" Nancy yelled.

They heard Joe faintly groan, "Uh-huh."

"I think we'd better go help," Nancy said.

"Leave him there," Callie said. "He deserves it."

"Callie, he might be hurt," Frank said. Then he thought a moment. "Actually, he does deserve it." Then he was quiet again. "No, we should help him."

"How do we get out of here without the teacher seeing us?" Callie asked.

"You're joking, right?" Nancy said. "Just _look_ at the guy. Do you think he'll stop us?"

"You're right," Frank said. They walked toward the door.

"Where are you kids going?" the teacher said suddenly. They froze.

"Um...we'll be back in a little bit. You can go back to sleep--we're just getting a little fresh air."

The teacher nodded them went back to sleep.

"See? Easy," Nancy said. They then left the room.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Joe, you're back!" Callie said to Joe the Monday afternoon.

"Yes, I'm back," he said. "And I'm never jumping out the window again."

"Yeah," Callie said. "But I'll consider that payback. That was much better than what I would have done to you. And you even got a broken arm out of it."

Joe sat down at the desk. "So what are you in detention for _now?"_ he asked. "It couldn't have been for something that I did." He glanced around the small group and saw Iola. She was grinning.

"It was your fault, wasn't it?" he asked. She nodded.

"What'd she do?" Joe asked the others.

"Hey! Can't you ask me? I'm the one who did it, and I'm sitting right here."

"No," Joe said.

"She put honey in the teacher's seat before class started. Wasn't _that_ a mess," Nancy said.

"Yeah," Frank said. "You should have seen the teacher after. She was pretty ticked off."

"But what was most funny was when she was trying to read. Her fingers were so sticky that the pages ripped every time she tried to turn the page," Nancy said.

"Then she slammed the book on my desk and told me to read..." Iola began, but Frank spoke up.

"But then she began to talk in the high pitch voice that the teacher uses and made up the entire story as she went along. Needless to say, Iola was sent to the office."

"But why are _all_ of you in detention?" Joe asked.

"Well, after the teacher went to wash up, Nancy, Iola, and me snuck out of the classroom then split up. I pulled the fire alarm—"

"You pulled the fire alarm?" Joe asked. "Frank, I cannot believe that at all."

"Believe it," he replied, then continued. "I made a run for it and, when everyone was out of the classroom—and the school—Nancy and Iola went in to all of the classrooms and—well, let's just say they redecorated."

"The teachers were _really_ ticked off then," Iola said. "But it was fun. Especially when we got into the paint."

"Well, I'm impressed. That's almost better than seeing Mr. Novak's face after someone threw a whole plan full of hot gravy on him during the food fight."

"Yep," Nancy said. "You know, that _was_ kind of fun. Especially taking over the kitchen and throwing pans and pans of food at students—and teachers."

"I think the detention was worth it," Frank said.

"Hey! Maybe we could start another one at lunch tomorrow," Iola said.

"You can," Callie said. "But I think that I've had my share of food fights—and they aren't very fun. Do you know how long it took me to get that honey out of my hair that night?"

Iola rolled her eyes. "You're no fun," she said. "That food fight was the _best._ And I am proud of Joe for starting it."

Callie rolled her eyes, too. "Whatever," she said.

"Hey, I have an idea," Joe said.

"For school tomorrow?" Iola asked.

"No, for right now. See the teacher?"

They all looked over at the old man who, once again, was asleep.

"Yeah, we see him," Frank said. "He's not the best detention teacher, is he?"

"Yeah, he is!" Iola said. "See? You can go up to him and he won't even move. Watch."

Iola walked over to the desk. She picked the teacher's head up and held it there. He didn't move. She then pulled out a permanent marker.

"Oh, no," Frank said.

"Oh, yes," Joe said.

Then, as they watched, she drew not only a mustache on him, but also a long eyebrow along with whiskers. She then went to sit down.

"See? He's a _good_ detention teacher. You can give him a complete makeover and he won't even know until he gets home."

"I cannot believe you just did that," Frank said. "Why the whiskers?"

"I think he's cute," Iola said with a grin. "He looks like a little kitty."

"Whatever," Callie said. "He looks like a poor victim of bad artwork."

"Poor guy didn't stand a chance," Joe said. "Well, it was better than my idea."

"What was your idea?"

Suddenly, the teacher lifted his head. He then stood up. "I'll be back. You kids don't go anywhere," he said. "I sure don't want to have to run after you."

When he left, Joe whispered, "Should we run for it?"

"He said that he'd go after us," Frank said. Joe rolled his eyes.

"Do you _seriously_ think that he can catch up to us? I mean, seriously. The _only_ time I've seen him run is when he heard the bell ring to indicate that school was out because he thought that it was the fire alarm. He ran down the hall yelling, "We're all going to die!" And even then he didn't go very fast. He's got to be at least seventy years old."

"But—" Frank said.

"You're too—" Joe began, but cut off when they suddenly heard a cry of anger.

"Um, Iola?" Joe said.

"Uh-huh?" she replied.

"I think you'd better run."


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey, gang!" Joe said when he walked in to the detention room once again. It was Tuesday afternoon—so far they'd had a detention every day since school started. It didn't seem to bother anyone except Callie, who looked like she was about to seriously hurt someone.

"Hey, Joe," the others said.

"What are you all in here for?" Joe asked them as he took a seat. Joe then noticed that Iola was grinning again.

"What'd she do now?" he asked.

"Hey! Why can't you ask me? I can tell you! And I'm sitting right here."

"No," Joe said, then asked again, "What'd she do?"

"Well, on top of getting yet another detention for drawing on the teacher's face, she also got a detention for beginning yet another food fight."

"Seriously? You took my idea?" Joe said. "Iola, I'm so proud of you."

"Thank you," she said.

"How'd it turn out?" Joe asked.

"Pretty good," Iola said. "I even managed to get the detention teacher. Guess he decided not to show up for detention today." They all looked over toward the desk, where a new detention teacher was sitting.

"I wonder if—"

"Why are you talking?" the teacher suddenly asked. "This is detention. It is not a time to socialize. Now sit and read."

"Okay. Time for another plan," Joe said, pulling out pencil and paper.

Joe: Do you think we can make a run for it?

Nancy: No. She's too strict.

Iola: Oh! I bet I can get out of here—or at least get _her_ out of here.

Frank: How do you think you're going to do _that?_ I'll bet she won't even get up once.

Callie: Really. Get a brain, Iola.

Iola: What is your _problem?_ Why are you so hateful to me?

Callie: Um, maybe because you got me a detention—for the same exact reason that Joe got me a detention.

Joe: Now, wait a second—

Callie: Don't start it.

Joe: Chill out.

Nancy: Seriously, stop.

Frank: Seriously.

Joe: Seriously

Callie: Seriously

Iola: Seriously

Frank: You guys are weird.

Joe: Thanks a lot, bro.

Frank: Well, it's true. Hey, look. The teacher's getting up.

The teacher walked over to their group. "What are you doing? Is that a note?"

"No," Iola said. "It's homework written in note form. See, our English teacher told us to write notes down on paper—like conversations between other students.

"Iola," the teacher said, "_I_ am your English teacher."

"Oh," Iola said. "I forgot."

The teacher walked over to her desk. A few moments later, she returned with a red slip of paper. "Detention. Tomorrow after school." The teacher walked off.

Iola: Yay! I got another detention! Will you guys do something to get in detention so I don't have to be by myself?

Frank: Sure

Nancy: Sure

Joe: Sure

Callie: Yeah right. I have better things to do than stay after school every single day.

Joe: Oh, come on. We can do something fun to get in trouble. Just this once?

Callie: Joe, you've said that before to me. Many times before. And I'm tired of getting detentions. You know that's all going to add up at the end of the year?

Iola: Hey! Maybe we could set a record for the most detentions in a whole year.

Joe: Hey, we could, couldn't we? I mean, so far we've been in a detention every single day since school started. Maybe we could keep it up.

Frank: Um, I'd rather not.

Joe: You don't want to be like Callie, do you?

Frank:...Okay. I'm in.

Joe and Iola: Awesome!

Nancy: You guys are weird.

Joe and Iola: We know

Iola: Hey! We should think of a way to get the teacher out of here.

Joe: I know how _we_ can get out of here. Or at least, one of us.

Nancy: No way! We are in this together.

Callie: I agree with Nancy. Either that or I'm the one person who gets out.

Joe: You _really_ need to chill out.

Callie: Whatever. What's your plan?

Joe: One of us asks to go to the bathroom.

Frank: That's it?

Joe: No. Then they go pull the fire alarm and we all get out. Then when the person gets caught, Iola won't have to be by herself.

Frank: That might work. But will the teacher fall for it?

Joe: There's only one way to find out.

Joe stood up and walked over to the teacher's desk. "Mrs. Winslet, can I go to the restroom?

Mrs. Winslet looked at him. "You mean _may_ you go to the restroom?

Joe rolled his eyes. "Yeah."

"Sure," she said. "But you'd better come back."

"Okay," Joe said. As he left, he winked at the others.

"I cannot believe he's about to do this," Nancy said. "You would think he'd learn from the first time."

"I don't care," Callie said. "I'm ready to run out of here if I have to. I hate detention."

Suddenly, they heard the piercing sound of the fire alarm going off. Then, they all took off running.

"Hey! You'd better stay near or it's a detention for all of you!" Mrs. Winslet yelled after them as she headed toward the door.

The teenagers ran and didn't stop. They ran away from the school, hoping to lose the teacher. Finally, after running what had to have been half a mile away, they stopped in a small neighborhood and tried to catch their breath. Joe was the first to speak up.

"That was awesome!" he said.

"Hey, Joe?" Nancy said.

"Uh-huh?" he said.

"Isn't it illegal to pull the fire alarm?"

"You won't get in trouble if you don't get caught," he said.

"You'd better hope you don't get caught. The principle was nice to you the first time. But remember what he said. He said that if you ever did it again—"

"—I'd get arrested," Joe finished. He sank down against a tree. "I'm doomed."

"No, you're not," Frank said, pulling him up. "But we've got to run."

They took off running once again. "Where are we going to go?" Callie asked. "I'm tired of running."

"Is there anything else you'd like to complain about?" Joe asked. "Do you _want_ me to go to jail?"

"Yes," Callie said. "You deserve it."

"Whatever."

Suddenly, they heard the sound of sirens.

"Run faster!" Frank said, and they began to sprint. But then, they saw a police car. They were stuck.

"Thanks a lot, Joe," Callie said. "This is a lot worse than getting me a detention. This actually goes on your permanent record."

The teenagers were put in the police car and taken to the school once again, where they were put back in the detention room.

"Hey! We didn't get arrested. That's good," Joe said.

Mrs. Winslet walked over to them, holding several slips of paper. She handed them to the teenagers. "I'll see you all later," she said. Then she walked off.

Iola picked up the paper with their notes on it and began to write.

Iola: I got another detention! Awesome!

Joe: We're one detention closer to breaking the record. We got a whole month's worth.

Nancy: You guys are _really_ weird.

Iola and Joe: We know.

Iola: Well, now I won't have to be stuck with Mrs. Winslet all afternoon for the next month.

Callie: I am going to kill you, Joe.

Joe: Why me? You chose to run. You didn't have to.

Callie: ...

Joe: That's what I thought

Nancy: Will you two stop it?

Frank: Really

Iola: Really

Joe: Really

Callie: Really

Nancy:...Do I have to say it?

Joe and Iola: We know. We're weird.

Callie: I want OUT OF HERE!

Nancy: Well, good luck with that. I think the principal is right outside the door.

Joe: Yeah. I'm afraid I'm out of ideas.

Callie: That's a first.

Joe: Callie...

Callie: Don't even say it. I KNOW I need to chill out. But I can't. I've been in detention every single day for the past month because of you. And now I'll be here _another_ month because of you. Wouldn't you be ticked off right about now?

Joe: ...

Iola: not really

Joe: Yeah. Not really. Detention's fun.

Iola: It would be more fun if we could do a makeover on that old guy. But I think he left.

Joe: I think you ran him out.

Iola: Yeah, I think I did. Real bummer.

Joe: Hey! We should try to think if something to do for tomorrow.

Iola: FOOD FIGHT!

Joe: No. That's getting old. We've done it twice now.

Iola: Yeah, you're right. But that was fun.

Frank: Yeah

Nancy: Yeah

Joe: Yeah

Iola: Yeah

Callie: You guys are weird.

Frank, Nancy, Joe, and Iola: We know.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey, look! The old dude's back!" Iola said when she walked in the detention room.

It was a month later. Their detention was _supposed_ to be over with, but once again, Joe had managed to get a detention. Iola had gotten one immediately after for disrupting the class just so she could join him.

"Oh, no," the teacher moaned when he saw Iola. She grinned.

"This is going to be a fun detention, isn't it?" she said.

"If you touch me—" the teacher began.

"I won't, I won't," she said, and then took a seat next to Joe. The others weren't there because they wouldn't purposely get a detention—they all supposedly had other things to do.

"Well, what should we do for the next four hours?" Joe asked. Because they had gotten a detention so many times—and because of what Joe had done—Joe had gotten Friday school detention, where you had to stay after school for four whole hours. Iola got two hours because of the amount of detentions that she had gotten, but was going to stay with Joe when her time was up.

"I don't know," Iola said. "Maybe we should think of a way to get out of here—or totally mess up the teacher again."

"Good idea," Joe said. "Or we could plan something for Monday."

"Yeah! Better idea!" Iola said. "You know, what you did today was awesome. I'll bet the janitors were busy."

"Yeah," Joe said. That morning at school, he had gone into the boys bathroom and Iola had gone into the girls bathroom and they stuffed all of the toilets with toilet paper, paper towels, and...well, pretty much whatever they could find. The bathrooms were flooded. Iola wasn't caught, but Joe was. But to him, it was all worth it.

"Hey! I just thought of something," Iola said.

"What's that?" Joe asked.

She glanced over at the teacher, worried that he would overhear.

"Don't worry about him," Joe said. They could hear the teacher snoring. "He won't hear you, believe me."

"Okay," Iola said. "Listen to this..."

Later that night, Nancy, Joe, Frank, and Iola snuck out of their homes and to the school. They were ready to hopefully carry out Iola's plan.

"I hope this works," Frank said.

"It should," Iola said. "There's no one to stop us."

They made it to the front door. It was locked.

"Now what?" Joe asked.

They were quiet a moment. Then Nancy said, "Wait a second. Do you have a bobby pin, Iola?"

"Yep," she said. She took it out of her hair and handed it to Nancy, who began to work on the door.

"You do know that this is breaking and entering, don't you?" Frank said.

"Yep," Iola said.

"You're not weird anymore," Frank said. "You're crazy." He began to walk off.

"I got it," Nancy said. Frank turned around.

"Great!" Iola said. They then walked in.

"Do you know where the science room is?" Joe asked.

"Um..." Iola said.

"Are you serious? You don't know where it is?" Frank said.

"No! I think it's right here," Iola said. They turned to a door to their right. It was locked.

"Bobby pin," Nancy said. Iola handed it to her and she began to work on the door again. It opened within a few moments.

Joe walked in first. But as soon as he did, he knocked over a can. He turned on the light. "Uh-oh," he said.

"Iola! This is the art room!" Frank said.

"Oh," Iola said.

Frank groaned. "Now we're _really_ going to get it."

Nancy rolled her eyes. "You think we're going to get in more trouble for spilling _paint?_" she said. "I think not. Now let's go."

They kept going down the hallway until Frank said, "Hey! I found it." They stopped in front of a glass door with the words SCIENCE LAB on it.

"Well, I'd say this is it," Joe said. He turned the knob. It opened.

"That was...easy," he said.

"I know," Nancy said. "A little _too _easy." They all walked in.

"Frank, you go hold the door open," Iola said.

"Why me?" Frank asked her.

"Because...I said so," she said. "Now go."

"Whatever." Frank went over to the door and held it open. Meanwhile, Iola lifted the top to the snake's cage and picked the snake up. She went into the hallway and set it down. It slithered away.

"We are going to get in so much trouble for this," Frank said.

"You can always back out now before it's too late," Nancy said. "That is, if you're too scared."

"I'm not scared," Frank said.

"Alright, then. Just stand there holding the door open, then."

"Fine."

Nancy opened another cage and Iola took another animal out.

"Should we let the rabbits loose?" Joe asked.

"No way!" Iola and Nancy both said at once. "The snake will eat them in one gulp. I don't want any animals to die."

"Okay, I won't," Joe said.

They opened a few more cages, and then finally went toward the door. "Alright. Let's go," Iola said.

"I wonder how much trouble we'll get in tomorrow," Joe said.

"A lot," Nancy said.

"Yay!" Iola said. "Another detention!"

"You are _so_ weird," Frank said.

"Hey," Joe said. "We're trying to make a record—it's our senior year here at River Heights High School, so we need to leave a record, or some marking that shows that we've been here."

"Oh, I think you've left one," Frank said. "Especially after this stunt."

"I can't wait until school tomorrow," Iola said. "Then I get to see my _favorite_ detention teacher again."

"Oh, you mean the one you did the mustache and whiskers on?"

"Uh-huh," Iola said. "But he told me not to do anything else to him or he'd get a restraint or whatever it's called. One of those things where you can only go within one hundred feet of a person or something."

"And you were worried of not leaving a marking that we were here. I think you've scarred the guy for life."

"Yay! I left a marking!" Iola said.

"Iola, seriously. You _need to grow up," _Frank said.

"She can't help it," Joe said. "She's been like that for...well, since forever."

"Since forever?" Frank said. "You _both_ need to grow up."

"Hey! I think I hear sirens," Nancy said. "Run!"

_Next afternoon..._

"That was awesome!" Iola said. "I can't believe we actually got two months of detention."

Frank, Nancy, Joe, and Iola were in detention once again—with the "old dude" as Iola called him.

"I know," Joe said. "Now if we could only get a few more months worth of detention..."

"Yep," Iola said.

"Um, I know you find this fascinating that we've been in detention every day since August and it is now January, but I think it's gotten kind of old," Frank said.

"Really," Nancy said. "I don't know why I've even helped you out on some of your stunts." Suddenly, the door opened.

"Callie!" Iola shrieked.

"Callie! What are you doing here?" Joe asked.

"What do you _think_?" Callie said. She took a seat next to them. "I got another detention."

"For what?" Joe asked.

"Well, you know how you told me to go out and 'do something crazy', Joe? Well, I did. I did an old trick my father taught me...I don't know why...but it involved matches..."

"_You_ started that fire in the girls bathroom?" Joe asked.

Callie nodded.

"Callie! I'm _so_ proud of you," Iola said. She ran over to Callie and hugged her.

"Um...thanks, I guess," she said when Iola sat down again.

"That was an awesome stunt," Joe said. "Almost as good as ours."

"Yeah, I heard about you letting all of the animals loose in the science lab last night."

"Yep," Iola said. "You should have seen Mrs. Winslet when that snake came into the room and crawled up on her desk. It was hilarious."

"Yeah, I think the Social Studies teacher found one of the chipmunks in her desk drawer this morning. All of our tests were destroyed," Nancy said.

"Unfortunately, that means that we'll have to take them over again," Callie said. "And unfortunately for you, Joe, that gives me another reason to want to mess you up—big time."

Joe jumped back. "Why me?" he asked. "Hurt Iola! She's the one who thought of this!"

"Because I like picking on you better," she said.

"Okay..." Joe said.

"Anyway..." Nancy said. "Maybe we could all study together before the test."

"Or maybe we could think of another stunt to pull to get detention!" Iola said.

Callie rolled her eyes. "Why don't you go over there and give the detention teacher a makeover again?" she said. "We can study."

"Okay," Iola said. She pulled out a permanent marker and walked over to the teacher's desk.

"She is _so_ weird," Frank said.

"_Anyway..."_ Callie said. "How about we study?"

"I want to think of a plan," Joe said.

"I want to study," Callie said. "Am I the only one who actually wants to pass?"

"Yes," the rest of them said at once.

Suddenly, Iola walked over to the desk again. She was grinning.

"Well," Joe said. "What'd you do now?"

"Look for yourself," she said.

Joe walked over to the desk where the teacher was asleep again. He lifted up his head and looked at the teacher's face. Once again, there were whiskers and a long eyebrow. But this time, she had also drawn eyes on his eyelids so you could see "eyes" even when his eyes were closed. Joe went back to sit down.

"Nice work," he said.

"Thank you," Iola said.

"You are _weird,_" Callie said. "All of you."

Suddenly, the teacher lifted his head up. He ran a hand over his face, smearing the still wet permanent marker. He then stood up.

"You kids stay here," he said ."I'll be back." The old man then left the room.

"I cannot believe you just did that, Iola," Frank said. "You know that you're going to get in a lot of trouble when he sees it."

"I know," Iola said. "But it'll be worth it."

Frank shook his head. Suddenly, they heard the teacher's voice yell, "IOLA!"

Iola gulped. Frank was the first to speak. "Run."


	5. Chapter 5

"Hi, everyone!" Iola said.

"Hey, Iola," Joe said.

"Wait," she said. "Where _is_ everyone?"

"They didn't come," Joe said. "They said that they were tired of detention."

'That stinks," Iola said. "Well, at least I'm not the only one here."

"Yep," Joe said. "Don't worry, Iola. I'll stick with you."

"Thanks," she said. She took a seat.

"I see the old dude's gone again," Joe said.

"Yeah," Iola said. "I heard that he gave up on detention. Oh, did I tell you he got a restraint against me?"

"No," Joe said. "I've got to say—you're a natural."

"Learned it from the best," Iola said with a grin. She looked over at the desk and saw an older woman sitting there. "Who's she?" Iola asked.

"That's the new detention teacher, Miss Blanch."

"Why are you talking?" Miss Blanch said suddenly.

"We were—discussing our assignment," Joe said quickly.

"For what class?"

"Um..." Joe said.

"Um..." Iola said.

"Social Studies," Joe said quickly.

Miss Blanch looked annoyed suddenly. "Joe," she said, "_I _am your Social Studies teacher, and we didn't have an assignment."

Joe gulped. "Oh," he said. "I forgot."

The teacher sighed and walked over to the desk. She returned a few moments later, this time carrying two slips of paper. "Detention. Both of you." She began to walk away. "See you next week," she said.

"I see why she's not married," Joe said.

"Yeah," Iola said. "But look on the bright side," she added.

They both looked at each other. Then they both said, "DETENTION!!"


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey! You're back!" Iola said the next afternoon. Nancy, Frank, and Joe were walking in. But there was someone else with them...

"Ned! You're here, too?"

"Yep," Ned said.

"How'd _you_ get in here? How'd you get a detention?" Iola asked. They all took a seat.

"That would be my fault," Joe said.

"What'd _you_ do?" Iola asked.

"Well, I kind of talked him in to going into the ladies restroom..." Joe began.

"You did?" Iola said. "And he actually did it?"

"Yep," Ned said. "I did it."

"I'm surprised," Iola said. "How about the rest of you?" she asked.

"Well, Frank messed with the teacher's lunch—he switched it up a little bit, to put it a the least," Nancy said. "And I...well, I'm the one who distracted him."

"Well, I'm glad ya'll are here," Iola said. "I'm not alone with my new favorite detention teacher." She looked over at the older woman whom was asleep...just like the old man from earlier.

Joe walked over to the teacher's desk and lifted her head. After a moment, he shook his head, laid the teacher's head back down, and went to sit down.

"The artist struck again," Joe said. "Seriously, you're going to run all of the detention teachers off."

"I know," Iola said. "But it's so much fun."

"I'll just assume that she's done this before," Ned said.

"Definitely," Joe said. "The old detention teacher got a restraining order against her."

"That's always nice," Ned said.

"Yep," Iola said. "I'm proud of it, too."

"We should think of something to do for tomorrow," Joe said. "We've got to keep our record up."

"Yeah," Iola said. "Oh! How about a food fight!"

"Iola," Nancy said, "You've done that twice now."

"I know," she said. "But it's so much fun!"

"Okay, Iola," Joe said. "We'll do a food fight—later. But we need something else."

They were all quiet a moment. Finally Iola said, "I've got it!"

"What?" Joe asked her.

Grinning, she motioned for them to lean in. She then told them her plan.

The next afternoon, Frank, Joe, Nancy, and Ned were all sitting in class when Iola suddenly swung the door open dramatically. "Everyone! Get on the floor! Now!"

As they looked over at her, they saw that she was holding what looked like two real guns.

"Tell me she isn't doing this," Frank said as everyone got on the floor.

"I think that she is," Nancy said.

"I told her to do the other plan—with the glue. She'll get suspended for this!" Frank rolled his eyes.

Once everyone was on the floor, Iola said, "Okay. Mrs. De Witt Bukater?" she said to the teacher. The teacher looked at her.

"There's only one thing that I ask," Iola said.

"What's that?" Mrs. De Witt Bukater asked her.

"That you clean for once!" Iola said. Suddenly, Joe burst into the room and began to spray all around the room with his water pistols. Iola began to do the same. The teacher screamed and ran out of the room. The other kids began to do the same. Soon, only Frank, Nancy, and Ned were left. They stood up slowly.

"I cannot believe you just did that," Frank said.

"That was SO MUCH FUN!" Iola exclaimed.

"Yeah," Joe said. "But I think we're about to get it from the principal."

"You were wearing masks. You shouldn't get caught," Ned said.

"No, but we've got to get out of here," Joe said.

"Hey! Don't back out now. Remember our goal—get a detention. FOCUS!"

"Oh," Joe said. "Right." They stood there.

"You guys are weird," Frank said as the principal walked into the room. "It wasn't even that funny."

Suddenly, just as the principal walked into the room, he slipped on the very slick floor. He groaned, but didn't get up.

Frank grinned. "_Now_ it's funny."


	7. Chapter 7

"Hi, gang!" Iola said as she walked in the room.

"Hi, Iola," Joe said.

"Where is everyone?" Iola asked as she took a seat next to Joe. They were the only two in the detention room.

"They didn't want to stay after school because it's Spring Break," Joe said.

"That's...not cool," Iola said.

"Doesn't matter," Joe said. "Look who's back."

Iola looked over at the teacher, then shrieked. "It's the old dude! He's back!"

Just then, the "old dude", as Iola called him, looked up. At the same time, his face went white. "Not you," he said.

"Oh, this will be _fun,_" Iola said.

"Give him a break," Joe said. "We need to think if something else to do to get a detention—something big."

"Well, we won't have to worry about it for a while because of Spring Break," Iola said. "We could plan over break."

"Yeah, but we don't have anything to do now," Joe said. "Unless you have plans for the 'old dude'."

"Oh, I have plans," Iola said. "Just—I can't say them yet. Anyway. We need a plan."

"Okay..." Joe said.

"Hmm..." They were both quiet for a moment. Suddenly Iola said, "I've got it!"

"What?" Joe asked.

"I've got an idea. But we'll have to talk about it later. The old dude is falling asleep...I have to do my prank on him before time runs out."

"This'll be interesting," Joe said.

Iola stood up, then walked over to the teacher, who was asleep. Again. She pulled out the permanent marker once again, then continued with her usual prank—the mustache and beard. Then, she gently laid the teacher's head back down on the desk and took a seat.

"You are _so_ weird," Joe said.

"I know," she replied with a grin. "Now. As for our plan..."

"What's your plan?" Joe asked.

"I'm getting to it. We could set the clocks so they are an hour ahead of time. Then the whole school would get out early."

"I don't know..." Joe said.

"Oh, come on. It'll be...interesting," Iola said.

Joe then said, "Alright."

"Great!" Iola said, then glanced over where the teacher was. She stood up suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Joe asked, then looked over to where she was looking. The teacher had lifted his head up now, and he looked angry.

Both teenagers gulped. Joe managed to say one thing. "Run."

"I cannot believe you talked me in to this," Frank said.

It was later that night, and Frank, Joe, Iola, Ned, and Nancy were outside the school. Nancy was on Ned's shoulders as she tried to break in through the window. She had already tried the door earlier, but didn't have any luck. Because Joe and Iola were so desperate, they had decided to try the widow.

Now, Frank was having regrets. Joe just rolled his eyes.

"Frank, you need to chill out and do something crazy for once," Joe said.

"I've done crazy stuff before, Joe. With you. And I almost got arrested!"

"Keyword: _almost._ You _almost_ got arrested," Joe said.

"I've got it!" Nancy called down to them.

Joe turned to his brother. "Are you coming?"

Frank shook his head. The others were going in. Frank said, "No."

"Fine," Joe said. "Stay outside with no lights, no one out here...nothing but darkness." Joe then went inside.

Frank hesitated. Then, a moment later, he followed.

The next afternoon, all of them were in class, anxiously watching the clock. They had set the clocks—all of them in the school—up an hour. It would make the bell ring an hour earlier, letting them out of school an hour earlier. Finally, the time came. The bell rang. The teacher looked up at the clock, confused.

"It's surely not three yet," she said. She glanced at her watch. "My watch says two o'clock!"

"Maybe your watch is wrong," Joe said. He then followed the others out the door.

They didn't make it far, though. The halls were crowded with kids getting their belongings, happy to get out early. Everyone knew the truth but the teachers.

But now, the principal was in front of them, and he was smiling. "Hello, Mr. Hardy. Mind to take a walk with me?"


	8. Chapter 8

"I am so glad that it's a brand new school year, and finally all of my detentions are taken off of my school record."

It was the first day back to school, and Callie was walking with the rest of the group— Frank, Joe, Iola, Nancy, and of course Ned.

"Hey, we should do what we did last year!" Iola said excitedly. "Get a detention every single day. But this time we have a chance to do it all year."

"I'm out," Callie said.

"Me, too," Ned said.

"Me, too," Nancy said.

"I'm in!" Joe said.

Frank rolled his eyes. "Leave it to Joe to encourage her," he said. "I'm out."

"Fine. We'll do it by ourselves, then," Iola said. "Come on, Joe. We've got some serious planning to do." With that, Iola walked off, dragging Joe by the sleeve behind her.

"Are they ever going to grow up?" Frank asked as they looked after the two friends.

Callie shook her head. "I'm afraid not," she said. "I'm afraid not." They continued walking.

"So are you guys trying out for the new school musical?" Nancy asked.

"I think that I will," Callie said.

"I'm not sure," Frank said. "I doubt it."

"Come on," Callie said. "They need a guy to do the solo part. Why not try out?"

"Because I'm a guy. And guys don't do acting."

"Um, excuse me, but people act for a living every day," Nancy said. "Including guys. And you say guys don't act?"

"I don't," Frank said.

"What would it take?" Callie asked.

"Why are you so interested, anyway?" Frank asked her.

"Because if I get the lead part, I don't want to be up there with some random guy. I want to be up there with you."

At that, Frank actually smiled a bit. "Well, alright," he said. "Just this once."

"Awesome! Auditions are after school," Callie said.

"We'll be there," Nancy said. The one minute bell rang. "I'll see you all later," she added. Ned took her hand as they walked to class together.

"Bye."

--

That afternoon, Frank and Callie went straight to the auditions room. Nancy showed up a little bit later with Ned. Apparently, they had gotten a bit 'distracted' at Ned's locker again.

They took their places on stage along with the other students on stage. Then, one by one, they tried their part.

The three friends were at the back of the line, and were the last three to audition. Frank had insisted that ladies go first, so Callie and Nancy went ahead of him.

Once auditions were over, it was announced that the results would be posted the next day right outside the office. Everyone then scattered as they quickly left the building.

Frank was just picking up his backpack when he looked over toward Nancy. She was with Ned, who was holding her gently in his arms. She was smiling up at him. Frank looked away before the young couple kissed. Just more evidence that they had definitely gotten distracted at Ned's locker.

With a sigh, he left them alone in the auditorium as he headed home.

--

The next afternoon after school, the office area was flooded with kids anxious for the musical audition results. Callie, Nancy, and Frank finally managed to push their way up to the front of the line. They quickly scanned the list.

"I got the leading role!" Nancy said excitedly. Smiling, she made her way back to Ned quickly. Frank watched as the usual happened—he would smile and then once again kiss her as a reward for her accomplishment. Frank could only imagine what it would be like if they ever got married. They would never separate.

Callie was pouting as she walked off. Frank scanned the list. He, too, had gotten the lead part. He would be doing the solo for the guy part with Nancy doing the solo for girl's part. They would be on stage together. Part of him was excited by that fact. But he also knew that Nancy was in love with Ned—there was no changing that. There was no chance that Nancy and Frank could be together. Frank sighed. He would just have to enjoy the few moments that he would have with her on stage. Finally Frank walked off.

--

That night, the doorbell rang at the Hardy's residence.

" Frank, will you get that?" Laura Hardy called from the living room.

Frank got up from his spot on the couch and went to the door. When he opened it, he suddenly felt himself being grabbed. Someone put a hand over his mouth.

"Hey! Calm down! It's just us," he heard Iola's voice say. She moved her hand.

"What? What are you doing?" he asked. Then he noticed Joe. "What are you both doing?"

"We're kidnapping you," Iola said.

Frank rolled his eyes. "Not again," he said.

"Yep. And this time, you're going to help us with our prank."

"I don't think so," Frank said. "I'm leaving."

"Fine. Be that way. We'll do it by ourselves." With that, Iola turned. She grabbed Joe by his shirt sleeve. "Come on, Joe." Dragging Joe, they left.

Frank shook his head and went back inside.

--

The next day, Frank, Nancy, and Ned were in the hallway walking to class when they suddenly noticed a large amount of water coming from one of the classrooms. They looked at each other and immediately said, "Iola."

The principal came by just then. "Everyone, get to class. Step away from the door. Get."

The small crowd of people finally slowly began to back off. They looked back as the principal opened the door. Water poured out.

"She's going to get suspended one of these days," Frank said.

"More like expelled," Nancy said. The one minute bell rang. "We'll see you later, Frank," Nancy said.

"Alright," he said. "Bye."

--

"Alright, everyone. The musical is in two nights. We have a lot of practicing to do."

It was the next afternoon, and Nancy and Frank were at rehearsal with the other students involved in the musical. Ned was in the audience seating, watching as they rehearsed. Frank assumed that it was to make sure nothing happened between him and Nancy.

"Let's go through it once again. Everyone take your places."

Everyone did so slowly, tired of running through the same thing several times in a row. Finally, they started up as usual and ran it all the way through. Once it was over, the person in charge said, "Excellent! Now just once more. Then you'll be free to go. Places, everyone!"

--

Frank peeked out from behind the curtain. It was Friday night—the night of the first showing of three showings of 'Singing in the Rain'. He was surprisingly nervous despite the fact that he knew that he had everything down. He looked over at the several other people—specifically Nancy.

Nancy was standing in a corner. But she wasn't alone. Ned was with her now— Nancy must have talked someone in to letting him come back stage. He was talking to her quietly. Frank looked away as he leaned in to kiss her. He knew that he was acting ridiculous, but he couldn't help it. He finally walked over to a corner on the other side of the stage, waiting for the time to come.

"Alright, everyone! Are you all ready?" their director asked. Everyone nodded anxiously. "Let's go then."

They went on stage and took their places. But as Frank began to walk out, he suddenly got the feeling that something was going to happen. Something would go wrong. Shaking his head, he thought, _nothing is going to go wrong. Everything will be fine._ He walked on stage confidently.

The first half of the show went very well. No one forgot their parts, no one forgot their places. Everything went perfect.

The second half was completely different.

During intermission, the cast had to go backstage. Before Frank walked behind the curtain, he noticed Ned getting up. Soon after, Iola, Callie, and Joe did the same.

_They're up to something,_ Frank thought as he walked backstage. _But what?_

He got it off of his mind as the director went over instructions for the second half of the musical.

As last time, it started out fine. But just as Frank had begun his part, something fell directly beside him. Startled, he looked down beside him. A balloon. A water balloon. He was about to go on when suddenly another dropped, this time on Nancy.

"Hey!" she exclaimed.

"Watch out!" someone from above called down. Suddenly, hundreds of balloons came tumbling down.

The girls on stage screamed and jumped back. But the people that had been the targets had been Nancy and Frank. Both of them were soaked. The stage was soaked. The first two rows of people were soaked. Everything was soaked. And it didn't take long to figure out who had done it.

"IOLA!" Frank and Nancy screamed at the same time.

--

"So how long did you get a detention for?" Frank asked his friends.

It was Monday afternoon. Frank had just found out that everyone involved with the water balloon issue had received a detention. It apparently hadn't just been Iola. It had been Ned, Callie, Joe and Iola up at the catwalk. They had dumped nearly two hundred water balloons on the stage when Nancy and Frank were in the correct places.

Iola and Joe had done it to get a detention; Ned had done it out of pure jealousy; Callie had agreed to do it after Nancy had beaten her to the leading role.

"Let's see," Iola said. She did a calculation in her head. "I think about one month worth of detentions."

"That's…not cool," Frank said. "Don't you remember your mother saying that if you got another detention you'd be grounded for a really, really long time? As in you'll never get to see daylight again?"

"Yeah, but she won't stick to it," Iola said. Then she grinned. "Besides. It was worth it."

"I have to admit, it was pretty funny seeing your faces," Joe said.

"Yeah," Frank said. "Real funny. Thanks."

Ned put his arm around Nancy's shoulder. She nudged him playfully. "So you were jealous," she said. "If you were so jealous why didn't you try out for the part yourself?"

"Because…I don't act," Ned said.

"That's what you say," Nancy said, smiling. Ned kissed her gently.

"Hey, hey, hey," Iola said. "Inappropriate. This is a school. Get a room!"

"Hey, don't interfere with a couple in love," Joe said teasingly.

"You heard him," Nancy said. "Don't interfere."

"Fine, fine," Iola said. "But can you at least go to Ned's locker to make out? Seriously. Some people don't need to be scarred by the vision of you two making out continuously."

"We weren't—" they began, but broke off. Finally Ned grinned. "Alright. Nancy, we're obviously not appreciated here. Let's go." Ned then led her off toward the lockers.

"They're something else," Frank said as they continued walking down the hallway.

"I'm glad this is their senior year," Joe said. "I won't have to put up with seeing them making out in the hallway every single day anymore."

"They are pretty pathetic, aren't they?" Callie said. She sighed. "Well, maybe one day we will be in love just like they are."

"God help us if we fall mad in love like they did," Iola said, rolling her eyes. "You can't separate those two! Everyone knows not to choose Ned as a partner—he's already going for Nancy. And don't get in between them in line—unless you want to start an argument with Nancy. That's a school rule pretty much—leave the two of them alone when together!"

"Yep," Frank said. "Pretty pathetic."

Iola sighed. "Well, I guess we'd better get going," she said. "We don't want to be late for detention."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Joe said. "I'll see you later, Frank," he said.

"Bye."

The detention room was empty. Apparently, they were the only ones with a detention that evening. But that didn't matter to Iola. Not after what she saw.

Iola walked in the door first. But as soon as she did, she screamed, "The old dude! He's back!"

The 'old dude,' as he was called, looked up—and his eyes widened. "Oh, no," he moaned.

"Oh, yes," Iola said. She rubbed her hands together. "This is going to be _fun._"


	9. Chapter 9

The next day at school, everyone was talking about what had happened at the play. Although they always talked about the famous 'prank of the day', as they called it, the play prank was the biggest yet.

Now everyone was sitting in class, waiting for it to begin. Everyone except Iola, of course. They all assumed she was in the process of doing yet another prank. But suddenly, the doors swung open and she burst into the room. "I got an F!" she yelled. "An F! Can you _believe_ that?"

"Iola, please don't yell—" the teacher began, but she was cut off.

"_You,_" Iola said, looking at the teacher. "_You_ gave me an F! Why? I had all straight A's until _you_ gave me an F! Why? _Why?_"

Callie ran up to the front of the room and yanked Iola down into a seat. "Sit _down!_ Do you want to get in trouble or something?" she hissed.

"Now that's a stupid question," Iola said, rolling her eyes.

"Okay…but do you have to come in yelling?" Then she got closer to Iola's ear so only she could hear. "You're going to put the teacher in a bad mood and then you're going to regret you ever bursting through that door because you'll be in the office while she tortures us with more homework!"

"Sorry for being _upset!"_ Iola said. "I had _all A's!_ All A's! Can you believe that? And then she gave me—"

"That's enough!" the teacher said. "Iola, go to the office."

"Fine," Iola said, pretending to be offended. She headed out the door, but stopped in the doorway. "I _will_ get my A," she said. With that, she left the room.

--

"Iola, that has got to be the best interruption that I've ever witnessed," Frank said.

"I know," Nancy said. "You have no idea how mad the teacher was, though. She gave us one hundred problems to do for our homework."

"Which means that you're going to get it," Callie said.

Iola jumped back and then grabbed on to Joe's arm. "Don't hurt me," she whimpered.

"Oh, I _will_ get you back. Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow, but I _will_ get you," Callie said.

"Um, I do believe that is a threat," Joe said. "And you might want to take it back before Iola gets the police."

"They won't do anything," Callie said.

"Actually, they took Joe into custody when Iola called them after Joe said that he was going to kill her," Frank said.

"It's true," Joe said. "So I'd take it back if I were you."

"Whatever," Callie said. "Sorry. Satisfied?"

"Yep," Iola said. "So, Frank, I heard you're really good with computers."

"Yeah, I guess so," he said.

"Well, do you think you'd be able to hack into the school's computer and change my grade? I am one grade away from being on the A honor roll, and you know what that means."

"Actually, no I don't," Frank said.

"Neither do I," Iola admitted. "But still. It's still pretty cool that I'm one grade away from having the same exact grades as you."

"Why don't you try to get the same grades as me?" Joe asked. "That way I won't be the worst in class."

"Because you have all F's," Iola said. "And my mother would _kill_ me if she knew that I had all F's. So…yeah, will you do it?"

"I don't know…" Frank said. "You can get into serious trouble by doing that."

"Oh, come on. Please? I'm your favorite best friend ever." When Frank answered, Iola said, "I know what you did last summer!"

"So?" Frank replied.

"So, I'll tell your mother," Iola said.

"Oh, no you won't. Because if you do, then I'll tell your mother that you were involved with it, too. And actually, it was your idea in the first place."

"What did you guys do?" Ned asked.

Joe answered, "Well, last summer at camp, we—Iola, Frank, and I—snuck into all of the cabins and stole some clothing from everyone. Shirts, pants—"

"Underwear, bras—" Iola added.

"And then we hung them up on the flag poles. And then when we ran out of flag poles, we just littered everything with the leftover clothing."

"We called it cloth-peeing!" Iola said.

"So that was _you_ who did that?" Nancy asked. She shook her head. "I should have known."

"What was really funny was that we managed to get into the camp leader's cabin, and their underwear had Sesame Street on it," Iola said with a grin. "We made sure that we hung those up, of course."

"That was hilarious," Joe said.

"Sounds…interesting," Nancy said.

"But now, back to the important stuff," Iola said. "I say we break into the school tonight and you, Frank, work on the computer until you are able to change my grade. Otherwise, I will be forced to do research on the computer until I find out how to hack into the school's system. And you know what happened last time I did research on the computer," she added.

"Do I even want to know?" Nancy asked.

Frank shook his head. "No." Then he turned to Iola. "I'll do it."

"Great! Okay. Here's our plan…"

--

That night at midnight, Iola, Frank, and Joe snuck out of their homes and to the school. Fortunately, it was pitch dark outside, making it easier to sneak around. That and, using Frank's idea, they all wore black.

"I feel like a robber," Joe said.

"Well, we _are_ breaking and entering," Frank said. "So we are doing something illegal."

"We'd better not get arrested," Joe said.

"Since when do you care?" Iola asked. "I think that this is quite fun."

"Sure," Joe said. "Fun is messing up the detention teacher's face. But not getting arrested."

"Whatever. You didn't have to come," Iola said.

"I know," Joe replied.

They walked up the steps to the school. As they expected, it was all locked up.

"Well, did someone happen to bring tools to break into this place?" Iola asked.

"Of course," Frank said. "We _are_ detectives, aren't we?" He pulled out his lock-picking kit.

"Always prepared," Iola said. "I like that."

It only took a few moments until the door was opened. They then quietly went in.

"Okay. So which office is the school administrator's office?" Iola asked.

"You should know," Frank replied.

"Oh. Right. Um, I think it's this way."

They walked down the hallway quite a ways until Iola stopped. "This should be it," she said. She opened the door and walked in. Suddenly, they heard a loud crash. A moment later, she said, "Oh, no."

"What happened?" Frank asked worriedly.

"I think we're in the art room."

Joe groaned. "Why do you keep finding that room? Out of all of the classrooms! And let me guess—you spilt the paint?"

"Yep," Iola said. "Oh, well. That's a guaranteed detention right there."

"Yay!" Joe said.

"You are so unbelievably weird," Frank said.

Iola stopped in front of yet another doorway. "Okay. This is it. I'm positive."

Frank quickly picked the lock on the door and they walked in. When they did, they were greeted by the darkness once again, along with the humming of the computers and the smell of old coffee.

"I can't believe they just leave this sit out," Frank said, motioning toward the coffee.

"I know." Joe got a Styrofoam cup and put some coffee in it. He took a drink. "It's still good."

"Sick," Iola said.

Frank took a seat at one of the computers and got to work. Iola took a seat and waited. And waited.

"Are you almost done yet?" she asked.

"Have patience," Frank said. Suddenly, they heard a loud crash. They froze. "What was that?" Joe whispered.

"I don't know," Frank whispered back. "Go check it out."

"What? Why me? Send Iola! She started this stupid prank!"

"Just _go!"_ Frank said.

Mumbling under his breath, Joe left the room. Frank continued working until suddenly, he exclaimed, "I got it!"

"Great! Now change my grade."

Within a matter of a few keystrokes, her grade was permanently changed to an A. "Yay!" she exclaimed. "I'm on the A honor roll!"

Suddenly, Joe ran into the room. " Get out of here! Now! The alarm went off out there. Don't you hear it?"

"No," Frank said. He jumped up. "But I agree with getting out of here."

"Let's go." They ran out of the room, slamming the door behind them.

--

"So. You guys got caught, didn't you?" Ned asked.

It was the next day, and they were all sitting in the detention room once again.

Iola nodded. "We were so close!" she said. "But then the police showed up. But fortunately, the police are familiar with us since we do pranks so much, so we didn't get in too much trouble. We just got a month's detention."

"That's…not too bad. Considering you _did_ break the law," Nancy said.

"Yep," Joe said.

"Hey! I have an idea for next time!" she said.

"What's that?" Joe asked.

"I'll tell you later."

"What? Why not now?" Joe asked.

"Because the old dude's here, and he might hear us," Iola said.

"Are you serious? He doesn't have his hearing aid in. He isn't going to hear you," Nancy said.

"Still. I'm waiting. But for now…" Iola pulled out four permanent markers—red, black, blue, and green. "We've got some decorating to do."

"I like the way you think," Joe said with a grin.

Iola walked over to the 'old dude', as he was nicknamed. Then she lifted up his face and began to work on his face. Then, when she was done, she dropped his head on the desk again. The others winced as they knew that that most likely hurt.

"There. Go look," she said.

Joe walked over to the 'old dude' and looked at him.

Iola had made him have dark, dark circles under his eyes to look exactly like a raccoon. She had then drawn a green mustache and colored his eyelids red. Joe put his head down gently on the desk and walked back. "You're nuts," he said.

"Thank you."

Suddenly, the 'old dude' sat up. He rubbed his eyes, smearing the still wet marker onto his hands. He stood up. "I'll be back. Don't go anywhere or I'll—I'll get someone to go after you." He then left the room.

"Iola, you're dead," Nancy said.

"Why does he always wake up? Why can't he wait to find out until we all go home?" Iola asked.

"Just your luck, I guess," Frank said.

Suddenly, they heard the old man's voice as he yelled, "IOLA MORTON!!"

Iola gulped. The others could only say one word. "Run."


	10. Chapter 10

"All right, everyone. Listen up because I'm only going over this once. We have a serious issue to discuss."

Iola Morton stood on top of one of the lunch tables in the crowded lunch room. But this time, it was crowded with only seniors. Which is good, because if caught, Iola would have gotten in major trouble for standing on top of a lunch table.

But that was beside the point.

"Why, might I ask, did you ask us to be here at two o'clock in the morning?" Frank asked.

"And why, might I ask, did we have to break into the school in order to hold this meeting?" someone else asked.

"For the first question," Iola said, "I just wanted an excuse to sneak out of my second story window. For the second question, I'm not exactly sure. Just for the fun of it, I guess."

"Iola…" Frank said, but she cut him off.

"Just ignore the fact that we broke into the school illegally at two o'clock in the morning. We have an issue here. Tomorrow is the last day of school for the ninth, tenth, and eleventh graders. And we have yet to come up with a senior prank."

Everyone was quiet a moment. Finally, Frank said, "So?"

"So, we have to come up with one!" Iola said.

"But then you can't graduate," someone from the crowd of seniors said.

Iola rolled her eyes. "We've already graduated," she said. "So they can't take anything away from us. Now. Who's with me?"

Several people cheered the idea. "Alright. Now here's what we do…"

--

A lot of people went shopping soon after orders were given. They decided to go to the one place that they could count on to get good deals. Wal Mart. And they needed good deals.

Joe was in the group, along with Frank, Ned, and Nancy. They were given the job of picking up the paper cups and bouncy balls.

"I can't believe we're about to do this," Frank said.

"It'll be fun," Nancy said. "And none of us can really get in trouble because we've already graduated."

"Um, but we _did_ break and enter. Remember?" Frank said.

"Why are you always worried about getting in trouble? Just go with the flow and have fun for once," Nancy said.

Frank stopped then, not completely expected the comment from Nancy.

"Alright. What did we need?" Ned asked, noticing the sudden tension.

"We're supposed to get paper cups," Nancy said. "And last minute, Iola said that we needed bouncy balls. Lots and lots of bouncy balls."

"You know, I'll bet someone gets suspicious when they see a ton of teenagers shopping at three o'clock in the morning," Ned said.

"That's the fun of it," Joe said. "Knowing that you might get caught."

"Yeah, you're right," Frank said finally.

Nancy stopped in front of a shelf. "Here's the paper cups," she said. They all began grabbing packages off of the shelves and put them in the basket. In a matter of minutes, they had pulled every package off of the shelf. "Alright. Now what?"

Frank looked around. "I think the bouncy balls would be in the toys," he said.

"Let's go," Nancy said, and they headed in that direction.

As suggested, they soon found themselves in front of bouncy balls. They found them in pretty much any size and color wanted. They found that you could buy either single bouncy balls, or buy them in a package of nearly twenty or more.

"This'll work," Ned said, motioning toward the packages.

Nancy nodded and started picking them up. She threw some in the basket and the others follow suit. They hesitated a moment before finally grabbing the bucket of singles and putting them in the basket, too.

"Alright," Ned said. "Let's go."

--

Later on, after shopping at over a dozen stores and after spending hundreds of dollars—compliments of the STUCO team—they split up into teams. Since not the entire senior class was needed, most of them went home after shopping while some stayed to help.

"Alright," Iola said. "You guys fill up cups," she said, motioning over to a large group of boys. "And you guys—" she motioned over to a large group of girls, including Joe and Ned. "You all can come with me. We've got to set up the chairs." She then said, "You all have your jobs. Now get to work!"

As they were walking off, she whispered to Joe, "I've always wanted to do that."

"So what exactly are_ we_ doing? What do we need the chairs for?" Joe asked.

"Well, my friend, I have decide that we should do more than one prank at once. Prank one could be putting all of the cups in the hallways. Prank two could be T. the school, but the legal way. Just move the chairs around and throw rolls and rolls of toilet paper on them."

"Smart," Frank said.

"Yep," Iola said. "Now. Let's get this started."

They began lining chairs up in the hallway, taking them out of classrooms—another senior whom knew the principal had gotten hold of the master key to everything in the entire school—and sometimes in certain places they would just pile them high. Finally, Iola began unrolling rolls of toilet paper, and let go. The others did the same.

By the time they were done, they were all laughing. Everything looked white. They had certainly done their job of T. the school—the legal way. They finally walked downstairs toward the entrance to check on the others.

"How's it going?" Iola asked.

As she looked around, she liked what she saw. There were already hundreds of cups filled with water out on the floor. Only a few hundred to go.

"Great," one of the senior girls said. "Although we've still got a lot to do."

"Yeah," Iola said. "We can help now. We're done with out job."

"Awesome," someone else said. The others walked in, grabbed cups, and began filling.

They worked for hours. And hours. And finally, finally, they were finished.

--

The principal was the first to see it. The first thing that he noticed when he walked in was the cups full of water. Of course, they were pretty hard to miss, with them being directly in front of the doorway and down each hallway on the first floor. He immediately became angry.

Several teachers began to arrive at about the same time, and immediately knew what had happened.

"Senior prank," a young woman said, and the principal nodded.

"Senior prank. And I know exactly who to get for it," he said.

--

Mr. Burden, the principal, was just walking out of his office when he suddenly heard a commotion. He walked a bit faster—and gasped at what he saw.

Students were stepped back away from the three flights of stairs as they watched as thousands of bouncy balls went flying down the stairs.

The students were screaming, but they were screams mixed with laughter. The bouncy balls certainly caused a commotion, and caused a lot of excitement. Some stooped down to grab as many as they could, while others just watched or tried to catch them.

While the principal tried to get all of the students to calm down and somehow get to class without getting soaked, Iola, Frank, Joe, Nancy, and Ned walked calmly and confidently down the stairs, unnoticed.

"Well, I'd say we ended this year pretty good. Don't you think?" Nancy asked.

"I'd say so," Iola said. "We've left a mark here at River Heights High School, and we had fun doing it. I loved the bouncy ball idea. Great idea, Joe."

"Thanks," he said.

"Well, what should we do now?" Frank asked.

"I think that we should get out of here right now," Iola said. "The principal will most likely want to have a word with us if we stay here too long."

"Good idea," Joe said. "How about lunch?"

"Sounds great," Iola said.

"I think that we'll probably go out and do something," Ned said. He took Nancy's hand, and she gazed up at him lovingly.

"Alright. No need to go into detail," Iola said with a grin.

"Iola…" the young couple said, but she just continued to grin.

"Well, Joe; Frank. It's just the three of us now. So let's go."

"Where are we going now?" Frank asked, under the suspicion that they weren't going to eat.

"You know where Nancy and Ned are going, don't you?" Iola asked.

Both boys nodded. "To the most romantic spot that they can probably think of," Joe said, rolling his eyes. "Nancy's house. Where they'll stay up late, making out and watching movies. But mostly making out. I know because Frank used to do it all the time at her house."

Frank nudged his brother, but it was too late. Iola shot him a look.

"You used to go out with Nancy?" she asked incredulously.

"For a while," Frank said, shooting his brother a dirty look.

Joe just grinned innocently. "Yes, you dated for two years until she met Ned," he said.

"But obviously it didn't work out," Frank said.

"Obviously," Iola said. "Since she's obviously very much in love with a certain someone, and that certain someone isn't you. It's Ned."

"You aren't helping, Iola," Frank groaned.

"Alright, sorry," she said. "Well, change of plans."

"What now?" Joe asked. "Dare I ask?"

"We're going to do some serious damage to Nancy's house tonight. But we're going to need some toilet paper. And a couple masks. And some blow horns. And—"

"Um, Iola? What do you plan on doing, exactly?" Joe asked.

"Only the best prank yet. We're going to scare them so badly that—well, they won't know what happened. We'll put it that way. Just wait until they fall asleep in each other's arms, and you know that they will."

"Alright," Frank said. "I'm in. Just because my secret is out now and I know that I'm not the only one who wants to do something about it."

"All right!" Joe said. "Now that's the Frank I used to know."

"Are you ready?" Iola asked with a grin.

Frank grinned back. "Let's do this."


End file.
